


Exiting the Dragon of Death

by BlunderGod (PompousPickle)



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Cheesy Johnny Cage movies, Gen, Vague angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 20:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4450439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PompousPickle/pseuds/BlunderGod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being left for dead, Tremor takes to hiding. Movies help him get through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exiting the Dragon of Death

**Author's Note:**

> Written for my friend Banana after a long discussion about Tremor and Kano's relationship. Named after one of Johnny's movies, taken from the wiki.

“I see you for who you truly are, you monster!”

Johnny Cage’s voice echoed in the small cave, crackling through the garbled speakers.  The video cassette player was leaking sand, and the speakers made everything sound like it was underwater. The picture came in and out of focus unpredictably. But still, Tremor had killed a man for the TV set; it’s all he could find in the middle of nowhere.

And in the end, it’s all he really had.

“You used me, made me think that I was doing something good. But in the end, I was just your pawn!” Johnny’s character shouted at the screen, yelling at the crime lord who had been posing as Johnny’s benevolent boss. But as the movie progressed, Johnny found he was only killing off people that the crime organization wanted dead. He was only mob muscle.

And in a great twist, his most trusted boss and mentor left him for dead.

Tremor mindlessly shifted a piece of stone into a knife, mouthing along to the movie. He had the script memorized; only having a small number of tapes to choose from. He watched the TV on and off, spending the rest of the time staring outside the cave.

Kano had left him. He had knowingly sent him off to his death, and smiled the whole time. And if he could see the man again, Tremor had no doubt that he’d be wearing that same smile. He tossed a stone in the air, turning it into another knife on the way down. He had no need for knives and swords, but selling them to Outworlders provided enough money to live by. Soon, he would have enough money to get back into the city, and get close to a portal to bring him to Earthrealm.

And then...

“I’ll beat you like the pathetic coward you are!” Johnny Cage shouted, bloodied and bruised. Tremor turned his attention back to the screen, just in time for his favorite fight scene. He knew what the media had said about Johnny Cage. But he knew you couldn’t fake those kinds of moves. Years of choreography wouldn’t give you that effortless grace. Kano used to tell him about the Tournament, about how he had fought Johnny Cage. His boss would always go on and on about how the man wasn’t as good as he thought he was, and how he was not nearly as handsome as Kano.

But Kano was a liar. He had known that then.

And he truly knew that now.

_Exiting the Dragon of Death_ continued on the screen, and Tremor found himself enraptured with the final scene. The raw anger in Johnny’s face, the betrayal he showed and the redemption he sought. Tremor never wanted to be good. He never wanted to _do_ good. The Black Dragon suited him. He was nothing like Johnny Cage. He liked the money and the rush and the thrill of the kill.

But he had enough of Kano’s manipulations.

“And now,” Johnny said, staring down at the boss he once called a friend, once was loyal to and once _trusted._ Tremor thought of Kano. His cocky grin and his lying eyes and single-minded selfishness. He slammed a fist into the wall of the cave, shaping the stone around him and letting his anger crack the rock all around.

“Now I show you what a simple pawn can really do.”


End file.
